Did the Lib Dems get rid of Ming too quickly?

Tim Hames has a typically sharp column in The Times this morning about the Lib Dems decision to dump Ming. He argues that the polls are so volatile at the moment that the Lib Dems would have done better to wait until Christmas before pulling the trigger as by then they would have been certain where they were really losing their votes to and why. 

Having said that, Hames is very much part of the growing Clegg bandwagon:

“Despite that, there is only one direction that the Liberal Democrats can and should take to limit the damage of this debacle. Nick Clegg is so plainly the superior contender for the post that, if he does not win, the party will have opted for collective suicide after committing two murders. As a telegenic young figure from the party’s Centre Right he would compete again for the support that seems, for whatever reason, to have slipped away at warp speed to the Conservatives.